Bombay

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found By Suketu Mehta Knopf, 542 pp., $27.95 There are some cities in the world that are more than geographical places. They are metaphors, mythical concepts, held aloft in space by our collective fantasies and desires -- Hemingway's Paris, the swinging London of the 1960s, San Francisco in the summer of love, New York in the age of jazz. For Indians of a certain age and sensibility, Bombay, India's most cosmopolitan and prosperous city, stands at that same intersection of myth and promise.

To hear Jack Steadman tell it, his band is already seasoned. Bombay Bicycle Club released "A Different Kind of Fix," its third full-length album in just two years, last summer. Before it ever put out any sort of record, the indie-rock quartet won a competition and played at the V Festival in its native England. And now a headlining tour in the United States has sold out dates across the country, including Friday night's show at the Middle East Downstairs. Only at the end of a recent interview is it apparent how impressive all that is. Steadman, who fronts Bombay Bicycle...

BOMBAY -- Never mind pets, smokers, or loud music at 2 a.m. House hunters in Bombay increasingly are being asked: "Do you eat meat?" If yes, the deal is off. As this city of 16 million becomes the cosmopolitan main nerve of a booming Indian economy, real estate is increasingly intersecting with cuisine. More middle-class Indians are moving in, more of them are vegetarian, and the law is on their side. "Some people are very strict. They won't sell to a nonvegetarian even if he offers a higher price than a vegetarian," said real estate broker Norbert Pinto.

Homai Vyarawalla, a photojournalist celebrated in India for chronicling the country's march toward independence and capturing enduring images of world figures such as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, and US presidents of the mid-20th century, died Jan. 15 in Vadodara, in west India. She was 98. Hospital officials said she had been under their care for respiratory ailments when she died after falling from her bed and fracturing a thigh bone. Ms. Vyarawalla was hailed as the first Indian woman to work as a photojournalist and remembered as a familiar sight on the...

BOMBAY -- Pramod Mahajan, the top strategist of India's main opposition Hindu nationalist party, died nearly two weeks after being shot by his younger brother in an apparent family dispute. He was 56. Mr. Mahajan died Wednesday at a Bombay hospital, where he had been on life support since being shot April 22 in his Bombay apartment, said V. K. Malhotra, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party. His death left the party without one of its most celebrated organizers. A fiery orator, Mr. Mahajan was a key figure in the transformation of a party once dismissed as fringe Hindu...

MUMBAI -- Rescuers pulled bodies yesterday from rivers of mud in and around flood-ravaged Mumbai as they searched for survivors of record-breaking monsoon rains that killed at least 513 people this week. A stampede set off by rumors of a dam burst late yesterday also killed at least 15 people, including seven children, and injured more than 25 in a Bombay shantytown, said R.R. Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state. Officials said 273 people have died in Mumbai since Tuesday, when the cosmopolitan city was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to...

I tried to get to Kutch, which is known for its textiles, in 2002, but was blocked because of communal rioting. " INTEREST IN INDIA: "Being a decorative arts curator, I always loved beautiful things," said Secondo, who worked in the European Decorative Arts department at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

BOMBAY -- Peace activists at the World Social Forum charged yesterday that President Bush's war on terrorism has made the world more dangerous. The third day of the annual gathering of peace and antiglobalization activists concentrated on linking peace movements across the world, with the focus on recent US-led wars. Protests against unfair global trade, big business, and foreign debt dominated the two previous days of the six-day event, held this year at a sprawling factory complex in Bombay.

Austria : Austrian Airlines pilots have planned short strikes to disrupt scheduled flights on the carrier that offers the only daily nonstop flights to Vienna from New York and Washington. The first strike took place Aug. 14 and lasted two hours; on Aug. 21 the airline canceled its flight to New York because the pilot called in sick and no one would agree to replace him. More strikes could take place at any time. India : Delhi is on high alert following two devastating bombings in Bombay Aug. 25 that killed at least 40 people.

Homai Vyarawalla, a photojournalist celebrated in India for chronicling the country's march toward independence and capturing enduring images of world figures such as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, and US presidents of the mid-20th century, died Jan. 15 in Vadodara, in west India. She was 98. Hospital officials said she had been under their care for respiratory ailments when she died after falling from her bed and fracturing a thigh bone. Ms. Vyarawalla was hailed as the first Indian...

Can you name a famous contemporary artist from India? OK, other than Anish Kapoor? I couldn't either before I saw "Gateway Bombay," an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum that, despite being small and muddled, serves to introduce uninitiated viewers to some of India's most celebrated modern and contemporary artists. Organized by Peabody Essex curator of South Asian and Korean art Susan Bean with help from Beth Citron, a Bombay-based art historian, the show aims to address the impact of one of India's biggest and busiest cities on artists who have lived, studied, and...

BOMBAY -- Never mind pets, smokers, or loud music at 2 a.m. House hunters in Bombay increasingly are being asked: "Do you eat meat?" If yes, the deal is off. As this city of 16 million becomes the cosmopolitan main nerve of a booming Indian economy, real estate is increasingly intersecting with cuisine. More middle-class Indians are moving in, more of them are vegetarian, and the law is on their side. "Some people are very strict. They won't sell to a nonvegetarian even if he offers a higher price than a vegetarian," said real estate broker Norbert Pinto.

BOMBAY -- Pramod Mahajan, the top strategist of India's main opposition Hindu nationalist party, died nearly two weeks after being shot by his younger brother in an apparent family dispute. He was 56. Mr. Mahajan died Wednesday at a Bombay hospital, where he had been on life support since being shot April 22 in his Bombay apartment, said V. K. Malhotra, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party. His death left the party without one of its most celebrated organizers. A fiery orator, Mr. Mahajan was a key figure in the transformation of a...

MUMBAI -- Rescuers pulled bodies yesterday from rivers of mud in and around flood-ravaged Mumbai as they searched for survivors of record-breaking monsoon rains that killed at least 513 people this week. A stampede set off by rumors of a dam burst late yesterday also killed at least 15 people, including seven children, and injured more than 25 in a Bombay shantytown, said R.R. Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state. Officials said 273 people have died in Mumbai since Tuesday, when the cosmopolitan city was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to...

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found By Suketu Mehta Knopf, 542 pp., $27.95 There are some cities in the world that are more than geographical places. They are metaphors, mythical concepts, held aloft in space by our collective fantasies and desires -- Hemingway's Paris, the swinging London of the 1960s, San Francisco in the summer of love, New York in the age of jazz. For Indians of a certain age and sensibility, Bombay, India's most cosmopolitan and prosperous city, stands at that same intersection of myth and promise.

I tried to get to Kutch, which is known for its textiles, in 2002, but was blocked because of communal rioting. " INTEREST IN INDIA: "Being a decorative arts curator, I always loved beautiful things," said Secondo, who worked in the European Decorative Arts department at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Can you name a famous contemporary artist from India? OK, other than Anish Kapoor? I couldn't either before I saw "Gateway Bombay," an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum that, despite being small and muddled, serves to introduce uninitiated viewers to some of India's most celebrated modern and contemporary artists. Organized by Peabody Essex curator of South Asian and Korean art Susan Bean with help from Beth Citron, a Bombay-based art historian, the show aims to address the impact of one of India's biggest and busiest cities on artists who have lived, studied, and...

To hear Jack Steadman tell it, his band is already seasoned. Bombay Bicycle Club released "A Different Kind of Fix," its third full-length album in just two years, last summer. Before it ever put out any sort of record, the indie-rock quartet won a competition and played at the V Festival in its native England. And now a headlining tour in the United States has sold out dates across the country, including Friday night's show at the Middle East Downstairs. Only at the end of a recent interview is it apparent how impressive all that is. Steadman, who...

BOMBAY -- Peace activists at the World Social Forum charged yesterday that President Bush's war on terrorism has made the world more dangerous. The third day of the annual gathering of peace and antiglobalization activists concentrated on linking peace movements across the world, with the focus on recent US-led wars. Protests against unfair global trade, big business, and foreign debt dominated the two previous days of the six-day event, held this year at a sprawling factory complex in Bombay.

Austria : Austrian Airlines pilots have planned short strikes to disrupt scheduled flights on the carrier that offers the only daily nonstop flights to Vienna from New York and Washington. The first strike took place Aug. 14 and lasted two hours; on Aug. 21 the airline canceled its flight to New York because the pilot called in sick and no one would agree to replace him. More strikes could take place at any time. India : Delhi is on high alert following two devastating bombings in Bombay Aug. 25 that killed at least 40 people.